Seen & Read: June 6, 2013

Food Arts Staff /
June 6th, 2013

Making His Life the Party, New York Times
The Diamond Horseshoe, a nightclub made famous in the 1945 movie, is set to reopen in the basement of the Paramount hotel this fall, and it promises to be quite a scene, complete with circus performers, according to a profile on developer Aby Rosen in the New York Times. The Paramount itself just underwent a $40 million renovation. Rosen is the backer behind Casa Lever and the Gramercy Park Hotel. —Beverly Stephen, executive editor

Eat Your Vegetables: Bold Recipes for the Single Cook by Joe Yonan
"In his second cookbook, Washington Post food and travel editor Joe Yonan acknowledges those vegetarians who are cooking for one. Look for tips on how to use leftover ingredients (like those miscellaneous chopped basil and mint leaves) and how to store things like half a can of beans or half of an avocado. Eat Your Vegetables hits bookstores in August." —Abbe Lewis, associate editor

Sriracha: The New Ketchup?Huffington Post
America may always view ketchup as the quintessential condiment for a wide range of food items, like hot dogs, hamburgers, and French fries, but lately, there’s a growing trend using the spicy topping. Sriracha—the Thai chile sauce that originally belonged on Asian foods—is now popping up in new places, such as a potential Lay’s potato chip flavor and a cookbook solely dedicated to the condiment. It’s replacing not only ketchup, but hot sauce as well, since it’s able to combine both flavors without dominating the food. This snappy sauce is even starring in an upcoming documentary by Illinois-based filmmaker Griffin Hammond, where he will divulge the history and rise to fame of Sriracha. —Bentley Weisel, editorial assistant

Pollan’s Rules Refuted!Esquire
The eloquent Josh Ozersky fires back at Michael Pollan’s latest rules for eating out. As he should—anyone who dictates how someone should go about restaurant and menu decisions needs to be prepared for a bit of backlash. —Abbe Lewis

The Saucier's Apprentices, The Economist
In defense of Pollan, he wouldn't have to sausage-stuff his books into proverb-esque casings if the public would bother to ingest more than sound bite-style information. Like Ozersky, I'm baffled by Pollan's guidelines for eating out. However I'm looking forward to reading his latest book, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, which is divided into four sections—fire, water, air, and earth—where he expatiates upon "a range of culinary topics from the joy of making soufflés that rise to why bacteria are needed in fermentation."—Jacqueline Sainsbury, manager, Food Arts online

The Internship
This weekend, the latest comedy from Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn comes out with the two playing grown men interning at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California. While not centered on food per se, the film is bound to show the company's famous perks, including its all-you-can-eat buffet, so we’ll be watching for any glimpses into its famed over-the-top foodservice operation.